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A question for some of the soldiering types who appear on here now and then. Near where I live there is a rifle range, which is occasionally active, here specifically:
I'm guessing it's run from somewhere over the Catterick Garrison way. Can anyone tell me who to contact in order to find out when it's live? There's a nice track that passes through the danger area, so I'd like to be able to avoid being shot or shouted at!
Make it a Strava segment! I'll bet that you can figure out when the range was being used based on the ride times! 😈
Phone up Catterick and ask, or look online
eg
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/MicroSite/DIO/OurPublications/DTE/DartmoorFiringNotice.htm
"Further Information from...
For further information about activity on the Training Area, contact The Range Officer Tel: 01748 875502/875507. Outside normal hours, contact the guardhouse Tel: 01748 875542.
"
Thanks Macavity, I did try the Army and the MOD websites, but got nowhere near the links you sent. Cheers for the Range Officers number.
Usually a red flag or lights when firing
Red flags up here when the range next door is being used
Is the "nice track" a right of way ? I guess not as RoWs crossing military land would have signage indicating when it's safe to use.
I wouldn't mention cycling/MTBing at all and just ask if/when the area is open for public access.
The rifle ranges don't affect the ROW's so you'll be fine.
The danger area markings on the OS map relate to areas that were used for hand grenade training during the war and may still have live unexploded ordnance on them.
A fair few of the bridlways criss crossing this area are very hard to discern on the ground and get very boggy. Even some of the ones marked as tracks can be a real slog after poor weather (I suspect they are also under a couple of inches of snow right now too).
JoeG - Member
Make it a Strava segment! I'll bet that you can figure out when the range was being used based on the ride times!
http://app.strava.com/segments/2647672
There you go Joe!
As for the right of way issue, yep it's a BW that cuts through the area that's clearly marked on the OS map as 'Danger Area' - Red triangles on the boundry. And there are signs and flags and everything, just it's a bit miffing when I've got all the way there and have to detour the 'long way round' which I don't like.
The "Danger Area" martkings on an OS map just delineate the boundary of the training area, not necessarily the actual area where you might be at risk from richochets, over-shoot, etc from a rifle range. A rifle range has a specific template applied to it that indicates where there may be risk - usually about 2.4km beyond the butts, because of the kinetic energy of a round and the distance it can travel if it doesn't hit the target/backstop, and extending at a shallow angle left and rigfht of arc from the firing point. Beyond this, anything marked as "Danger Area" on an OS map might be in use for dry training with blank ammunition, as with most of the Catterick traiing area - very little of it is actually used for live firing but still large swathes are marke don the OS maps as "Danger Area". The MOD website is not very user friendly but the links above will help you get to the right place.
Just looked on our Geoviewer system - I used to know Battle Hill ranges well. By the looks of things, as long as you're on the bridleways running east-west on the track to the north of the range, you should be OK, looks like the BW runs along the edge of the danger area, whereas the footpaths running north-south would be a bad place to be when firing is going on - Battle Hill certainly used to be used by recuits from Catterick a lot, not the best of shots...
The danger area markings on the OS map relate to areas that were used for hand grenade training during the war and may still have live unexploded ordnance on them.
Oh and the "Danger Area" isn't there because of legacy ordnance - it's purely to take account of the live firing template of the range, as described in my earlier post....
They have red flags and lights at both ends of the range, in our case they also patrol with boats on the water since we sail pretty close to it.
It's a bloody nuisance these days, it seems to be on the go day and night with all this Afghan training, machine guns rattling away endlessly and it used to be 50p a round a while back I hate to think how much they cost now. They fire millions of rounds down here and a lot of it live, the whole coastline from Hythe to the Redoubt Fort is a live training area, they used to have Shankhill Road built inside the fort once upon a time, I guess it must look like Basra now.
I wouldn't ride through there ever, there must be so much unexploded crap, thunder flashes etc we have enough of it in the hills on our regular rides, the whole area around here is used for Military training, good news in as much as there's lots of riding, not good news if you pick up some of the crap they leave laying around.